Multimedia-Based Instruction in Engineering Education: Evaluation

Evaluation of multimedia-based engineering education should be a continual process from the planning phase, through the implementation, to the postimplementation phase, instead of the traditional end-of-course evaluation. Specification of prerequisites and objectives, development of measurement instruments, and strategy of implementation are some of the important items that should be evaluated in the planning stage to ensure maximum implementation success. Evaluation during the implementation phase ensures that unforeseen problems be corrected. Postimplementation evaluation should extend much beyond the end-of-course evaluation to evaluate important measures, such as retention rate. Some longitudinal evaluations of retention rate based on performance of students are suggested. Evaluation of the multimedia-based instruction on the course level and curriculum level are discussed and outlined. Use of value-added criteria to evaluate the success of multimedia-based instruction compared to the traditional text-lecture-laboratory-test paradigm is suggested.